


Between the stacks

by sadyshea



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, No wolves, derek!sensitive, highschool!au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-06
Updated: 2013-01-06
Packaged: 2017-11-23 22:42:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/627321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadyshea/pseuds/sadyshea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes Stiles watches Derek.</p>
<p>He doesn’t mean to, it just sort of happens.</p>
<p>Derek doesn’t know Stiles. He doesn’t even acknowledge his presence in the halls. </p>
<p>The bottom line is that Derek is a senior and Stiles is just an invisible sophomore. </p>
<p>So when they both get a job at the local bookstore, Stiles isn’t sure what to do: hide in the stacks or finally find his balls to say hello.</p>
<p>It’s a bit of a fucking dilemma.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Between the stacks

Sometimes Stiles watches Derek.

He doesn’t mean to, it just sort of happens.

Derek doesn’t know Stiles. He doesn’t even acknowledge his presence in the halls. 

The bottom line is that Derek is a senior and Stiles is just an invisible sophomore. 

So when they both get a job at the local bookstore, Stiles isn’t sure what to do: hide in the stacks or finally find his balls to say hello.

It’s a bit of a fucking dilemma.

~~~~~~~~

Stiles gets nervous. He can’t just walk into a new workplace without being completely anxious about the whole affair. Sure, the interview went well but now it just seems so… different.

“I can’t do this…” Stiles mutters, wishing he could just stay in his Jeep forever.

But that just wasn’t an option. He has to do a real ‘suck it up princess’ and give himself a slap in the face. Thankfully, Scott is there to do it for him.

“Get your shit together man.” His best friend warns and Stiles feels the sting of the slap on his cheek. “It’s just work. Who cares if Derek is there too?”

He wishes he was as brave as Scott was and that wasn’t even saying much. Scott is the type of guy who would be playing sports, had he not been troubled with his asthma. Stiles benchwarmed beside his best friend just to make his Dad happy and to keep himself a little bit active.

Scott had gotten a job at the same mall that Stiles would be working at, working at a pet store. He had applied to the bookstore as well but the interview had proved to be disastrous considering he had read about two books in his entire life.

“What if we just take the day off?” Stiles suggests, a grin spreading across his face as his brilliant idea.

“IT’S OUR FIRST DAY!” Scott exclaims incredulously. “You can’t skip out on your first day!”

“I thought it was a good idea…” Stiles slumps down in defeat, hands gripping his steering wheel. He watches with mild interest as his knuckles turn white and Scott openly gapes at him.

“I’m not being late on my first day because of your paranoia. Derek isn’t going to even notice you’re there. No offense.” Scott decrees before pushing the Jeep door open and leaping down.

The door slams and Stiles watches Scott stalk away before the anxiety bubbles up in him like a tidal wave. He screams out in protest, glad to let a little of the tension out in the confined space of his Jeep.

Scott whirls around quickly and looks at him with wide eyes. Stiles doesn’t even have time to register what happened before a voice warns: “Your window’s open.” 

Stiles feels his flesh crawling with nerves as he recognizes the voices as Derek’s, the senior that had been hired at the very same book store as he had been. Ever since Stiles had found out about the mutual hiring, he’d been wanting to avoid the day of his first shift like the plague.

It isn’t that he doesn’t like Derek; it’s just that Derek terrifies him. 

Derek was a senior, a popular senior who was on the first line of the lacrosse team. He was tall and muscular and incredibly talented and well, unjustly attractive (even Jackson agreed).

Stiles keeps his wide eyes focused on Scott until his best friend nods toward the senior who seemed to be hovering outside of Stile’s window.

Slowly, Stiles shifts his gaze toward Derek and instantly regrets it. Derek is looking at him with concern in his eyes and Stiles honestly doesn’t know how to justify his bizarre outburst.

“S-sorry. I have… a tick. Sometimes I scream.” Stiles supplies lamely, feeling the idiocy wave through him but was unable to stop it before it hurtled out of his mouth.

“Oh… uh… okay.” Derek responds, a bit confused. “Just wanted to make sure you’re all right.”

“Yup, all good in the hood.” Stiles blurts out, forcing himself to smile weakly at the senior.

Derek raises an eyebrow, almost in interest before continuing on his way toward the mall.

Stiles lets out a breath of relieved air as Scott races back to the Jeep, leaning into the open window, “What just happened?”

“I just made the worst fucking first impression I could’ve.” Stiles answers grimly. “Derek Hale probably thinks I’m insane now.”

“Well, doesn’t everybody?” Scott responds, making the last shred of hope that Stiles had shatter completely.

“This day couldn’t get any worse at this point.” Stiles determines, undoing his seat belt finally. “Might as well just let it take its course.”

“Now, that’s what I like to hear!” Scott shares, a smile on his face as Stiles got out of his car.

“What? That your best friend is embracing the fact that his fate is to suffer for eight hours a day every day this summer?” Stiles questions, his voice dramatic.

“You really are an emo, y’know?” Scott labels him before storming off toward the mall again.

“PEOPLE DON’T EVEN USE THAT TERM ANYMORE, SCOTT!” Stiles calls after his best friend. “THAT’S LIKE FROM THE MYSPACE AGE AND THAT IS NOT AN AGE ANY OF US WANT TO RETURN TO!”

Scott, ignoring him, continues on his way. Exasperated and knowing he ought to make a bit of a good impression at least on his employers, Stiles rushes after him.

The air conditioning of the mall hits them instantly as they enter into its grasps. There are swarms of people rushing to their prospective places of employment and Stiles and Scott make it to the epicenter where they have to separate, taking pause to wish each other good luck.

“Try not to get bitten by a rabid rabbit.” Stiles greets, with his best intentions.

“Try not to get squashed by a book shelf.” Scott returns, a twinkle in his eyes. “Or worse, get noticed again by Derek.”

“I hate you.” Stiles mutters, eyes darting around to make sure the senior wasn’t in the vicinity, which thankfully, he wasn’t.

Scott, seeing his cue to leave, turns on his heel and stalks away from Stiles, leaving alone to endure his self-inflicted torture.

“Gosh darn it!” Stiles decrees, stamping his foot as he censored his frustration.

After his little tantrum, he collects himself and mutters, “Okay, Stiles, you can do this. Everything’s fine.”

And with that, he takes his first step toward the rest of his summer: hiding from Derek Hale and avoiding customers by hiding amongst the bookshelves.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The bookstore is much bigger than Stiles remembers which gives him hopes that hiding will be a viable option. All the new employees were escorted to the back of the story where they now sat, waiting for orientation to begin (which they had already been promised was quick and dirty).

Stiles surveys the group of new employees, recognizing Derek immediately but avoids eye contact like his life depended on it. He’s surprised when a certain redhead sits down beside him, all prim and proper.

“Lydia Martin…. Working?” He asks, unable to stop himself.

“Oh, laugh it up, Stiles.” She responds with venom in her voice. “My dad’s making me pay off my last credit card statement. I’m out of here right when it’s done. I figured this would be the best place to avoid any people of importance. I see that I’m already among the league of losers.”

“Sassy and sexy.” Stiles answers, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. “I like that combination.”

“Well, you’re as much of a snake as ever.” Lydia determines, rolling her eyes before she begins her own surveying of he group.

Her eyes widen when she sees that Derek is a part of the group.

“What the hell is he doing here?” She questions incredulously, nudging Stiles in the ribs.

“You think I know? Maybe they’re trying to punk us or something.” He supplies, shrugging with helplessness. “Get rid of our first day jitters. Otherwise, I’m as confused as you are.”

“At least there will be something to stare at to make the hours go by.” She breathes out, dreamily as she stares at Derek as if he were a piece of meat.

Stiles, uncaring that he was about to cross a boundary, flicks her in the ear. “Earth to Lydia, staring isn’t lady like. It’s just creepy.”

Before she has time to yell at him, their manager sweeps in. He looks like a flamboyant Santa Claus, glasses and all but he sat into his hip once he stopped in front of the new employees.

Stiles glances over to discover that Derek has a look of amusement on his face as well. 

“Welcome to the ‘Between the covers’ family.” The man greets enthusiastically.

Stiles has to stifle a laugh and earns a swift kick in the knee from an innocent looking angel to his left who had still been seeking revenge.

“Ouch…” He murmurs, shooting Lydia a glare before concentrating back on the manager.

It wasn’t his fault that the name of the store was ridiculously suggestive.

“Just to open, do we have any questions from the group?” The manager inquires, smiling around at the workers.

No one responds for a spell until a hand raises suddenly. Everyone else zeroes in on Derek Hale preparing to ask a question.

“Yes?” The manger prompts.

“I was just wondering… are the books organized by sub genres under the main genres?” He inquires and Stiles and Lydia struggle to hide their horror.

Seeing as they were his only peers amongst the group and he probably didn’t even recognize them, Derek seemed to be thriving in his assumed guilty pleasure.

“Um… no. We organize our titles much more generally than that.” The manager responds and Derek looks disappointed. “But thank you for your enthusiasm…”

“Derek.” He introduces himself.

“Yes, of course, Derek.” The manger nods encouragingly.

What the hell universe are we in, Lydia mouths to Stiles who simply shrugs before beaming back at Derek.

The rest of the orientation whizzes by and soon Lydia and Stiles find themselves out on the floor of the store, lost in the sea of literature.

“Where do we even start?” Lydia questions, overwhelmed.

“Um… I have no idea.” Stiles responds, wishing he had paid more attention before the manager had sent them out. “Why don’t we just… get to know the set-up? The return bin is over there, we could try to get them back into their spots?”

Lydia, having no ideas of her own, nods and they head toward the bin. They each pick up an armful of books in their own hands and make their way back into the middle of the floor.

“I think we have to split up.” Stiles decrees, even though he wishes they didn’t have to.

Camaraderie had built between the two of them, as odd as it was. It was probably just a survival tactic.

“Yeah, we better.” She agrees, before heading off in the opposite direction. “See you on the other side!”

Stiles senses the way of anxiety growing with in him and he hurtles forward. His vision isn’t up to par on a good day and the books in his arms didn’t help that.

He collides with something and ends up buried in a mountain of books.

“Ouch…” He mutters, unable to move.

But someone decides its time for him to get back up to his feet and sweeps him back up.

Stiles finds himself face to face with Derek.

“You should really watch where you’re going and maybe take less books in yours arms.” Derek blurts out before realizing he recognizes Stiles. “Wait, you’re the guy from the parking lot… with the tick? You work here too?”

“Y-yup.” Stiles sputters.

“Try and keep it together, okay?” Derek states before continuing on his way.

Stiles wasn’t sure to classify what Derek had said as a threat or as a concerned statement. Stiles doubts it was the latter.

His second run in with Derek had been as awful as the first and all that he got in return from it was a very amused look Lydia, stifling a laugh at his expense.

It was going to be a long summer…

TBC.

**Author's Note:**

> This is experimental, let's just see where it goes shall we?


End file.
